Lowe's plan to open a store in Bonita Springs is waiting on completion of a Bonita Beach Road widening project that just started, city leaders say.

Lowe's currently doesn't have a date set for a ground-breaking on the project at the northeast corner of Bonita Beach Beach Road and Old 41 Road, Stacey Lentz, a Lowe's spokeswoman, wrote in an email.

As of today, the home improvement store hasn't requested a building permit.

So far, North Carolina-based Lowe's has completed underground site preparation, a landscaping buffer and a water retention area, Mayor Ben Nelson said.

The widening project, which will expand the four-lane road to six lanes from Old 41 Road to Lime Street, is slated for completion in December 2012.

In the past, Mike Reynolds, Lowe's site development director, said the company would begin acquiring permits and may break ground in late 2011.

The 147,000-square-foot retail and garden center is expected to generate more than 100 jobs and about $2.8 million in one-time revenue for Bonita Springs.

The drawings show 60 percent of the property set aside for open green space, with more than half of that for indigenous plants.

The preliminary plans were Florida-style architecture, Nelson said.

"We are hopeful that they will open and do a good job with it," he said.

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Until Lowe's makes an official announcement on its time frame, Lowe's officials didn't have other details to release about the new center.

"That whole intersection has great development potential for something very positive," Nelson said.

In 2009, Bonita Springs City Council agreed to redesignate 22.5 acres on Bonita Beach Road across from the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track as commercial planned development. It had been designated for construction of both residential and commercial buildings.

Lowe's first requested the zoning change in 2005, but it was rejected then.

Since then, Lowe's made changes to its original proposal, including downsizing the project by 10 percent — making it Florida's smallest Lowe's and offering more green space than what is required.

The slowdown in the economy has given local government leaders time to widen Bonita Beach Road and prepare for future increases in traffic along the major Bonita Springs roadway, Nelson said.